When the wife and I moved into our house, the previous resident left some things behind. One of which was a filing cabinet. It’s a typical five drawer, office type of grey metal, filing cabinet.
As is usual with these filing cabinets, there is a little metal locking device in the upper right hand corner. When you push it all the way in, it locks the drawers.
I would like to use the filing cabinet, sans the lock. So, can I just drill into the face of the lock, and straight through it, and expect that to disable the lock? Or would that just end up seizing up the lock and keep the drawers locked?
This happened at my office one time. We had a filing cabinet that nobody had a key for but the lock was still there. It was just a matter of time before someone leaned on it and locked it. Sure enough it happened one day and the maintainance guys drilled through the front of the lock. It took quite a bit of time but eventually it did disable the lock. You will need a good sized bit to make sure you destroy the tumblers but it will work eventually.
There are easier ways to do it. Try yanking up and down on the drawers as you try to open them. There is often a lot of “play” in the locking bar. If you can get one drawer open, you can remove it and get at the locking bar. Manipulate the bar until all of the drawers can be removed, then just cut the bar out with a hacksaw.
Even easier is to just note the number on the lock, the make of the file cabinet, and call a locksmith.
Unlike the others who’ve replied, I’m reading your post not to mean that you’ve accidently locked a filing cabinet to which you have no key, but rather you have a locking filing cabinet from which you’d like to remove the lock.
Shouldn’t be too difficult. Open the top drawer and peer inside to see how the lock is attached. On my cabinet (similar to the one you’ve described, with locking mechanism in upper right corner - push in to lock), the lock is attached from the inside with a couple of screws. Pushing the lock in actuates a mechanism that moves a steel rod that (somehow) locks all the drawers. Take out the screws, pull out the mechanism and rod, done…no more lock.
Filing cabinets come in several different quality grades. Unless the steel skin of the cabinet is fairly sturdy trying to punch the lock out might damage the case to the point the drawers don’t slide correctly. It’s better to drill it out if you can.
I had a filing cabinet I lost the key for. I wound up opening it by taking a hacksaw blade and cutting through the little flap that the lock controlled.
You could also freeze it with liquid nitrogen and hit it with a hammer, but that might crack part of the filing cabinet as well.
If the container is open, look inside at the lock most times it is held on with screws or with a clip. If it is locked. Most times there is a number on the face of the lock. write those numbers down and any other information you might think useful (names model numbers) then go get a locksmith to cut you a key by code.
You can also use a long, slim piece of metal (15-18" long, 1" wide) to “slip” the lock. Just insert it alongside one of the drawers on the same side as the lock. You should be able to force the lock bar from the catch. A metal ruler works well, as does a long carving knife.
How do I know this? Used to serve a lot of search warrants on locked cabinets with “lost” keys.
